Vermont, lawmakers lead the way on legalizing recreational pot

In the past year, the legalization of recreational marijuana has made some major steps forward and some steps backwards. Eight states in total have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In all those states, pot was legalized through ballots.

Vermont is taking a step in a different direction by using a bill for lawmakers to sign and make their opinions public. Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey are most likely going to follow suit with proposed legislations. If the bill is approved, Vermont will be the first state in history to achieve this. Last year, Denver’s marijuana sales reached $1 Billion in just eight months. Announced by the CDOR in December, Denver reported they topped more than $4.2 Billion in marijuana sales since 2014. Annual growth rates are expected to moderate as markets mature and other states adopt cannabis measures.

Denver has definitely seen more pros than cons in the last few years. Over 20,000 new jobs were also created in Colorado as a result of marijuana legalization. Surprisingly, the amount of pot smoker has remained pretty much the same and drug related crimes are on the decline. The only drawback is that police have a hard time identifying if someone is under the influence of marijuana or not and determining if edibles are harmless treats or not.

With the government trying to step in on a federal level and take matters into their own hands, specifically Jeff Sessions, the topic of recreational marijuana is in the forefront right now. Many politicians believe Jeff Session’s attempt to reverse the hands-off policy will be unsuccessful. Sessions picked a losing battle with over 50% of voters supporting the use of recreational marijuana.